Christian wary of in-form Defoe

Christian Eriksen says keeping former Spurs favourite Jermain Defoe under control will be vital if we’re to get the better of Sunderland on Saturday.

The evergreen striker has plundered five goals in the Black Cats’ last two league games, including a hat-trick in their 4-2 win at Swansea City in midweek.

Creative midfielder Christian, who played alongside Jermain for the last six months of the forward’s White Hart Lane tenure, knows all about the threats of the 33-year-old front man and has underlined the need to prevent him from adding to his goals tally as we look to bounce back quickly following Wednesday’s loss to Leicester City.

“Jermain is always confident, always wants to score goals and of course he will want to do well, but hopefully we will keep him quiet,” said Christian, who made history this month by winning the Danish Football Players’ Association’s Player of the Year award for the third year in a row.

“He will always be popular with the Spurs fans and they will give him a great reception, but they won’t want to see him scoring!

“It’s a big game for us now. Everyone was tired after Wednesday’s game, even more so because we lost, but we will have a different mindset by the time kick-off comes around on Saturday.

“It’s good to have another game so quickly, it gives us an opportunity to put things right.”

Read more from Christian in this weekend’s official matchday programme – on sale for £3.50 from a number of points around the stadium and from the Spurs Megastore.